Little Goodwin's Midwinter
by Daughter of Nature
Summary: Responses to the Goldenlake Advent Calendar prompts. All involve Clary and Tom's young daughter, nicknamed 'Little Goodwin' or 'Little' for short by Mattes before she was born.
1. Improvement

Prompt: Winter

Ever since becoming a Dog, Clary Goodwin had hated winter. It made duty miserable, with the cold wind and rain, and sometimes even snow, hail, or sleet freezing her right through.

But having a four year old in the house made things different now. It made things more complicated, of course, having to wrap her up in all sorts of layers to keep her warm and then keep her entertained inside more often anyway. But the way she ran to the window as soon as she woke up every morning to see if it had snowed in the night was quite adorable, Clary had to admit. It made winter that little bit better. Well, until the morning that it actually had snowed and the littlest Goodwin ran straight outside in her nightdress.


	2. Sisters

_I'm replacing the Perfection chapter with this because it fits better into the story compared to the other chapters. Perfection will be put into my fic collection 'Haberdashery' instead._

Prompt: Family

"Hey Uncle Matty, are you actually my uncle?"

He smiled as she bounced around his rooms. "No," he told her. "I've just been friends with your parents for a long time."

"How long?"

"Your mama and I used to be street partners together, like Beka is my partner now. We first started that about twenty years ago."

"That's even older than me!"

He tweaked her nose. "I know."

"Uncle Matty, I wish you were my big sister."

He burst out laughing. "Little, that's impossible."

"We can pretend."

"I'm not even a girl. Why don't we do something else, like pretend to be dogs? I'll teach you how to growl. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr." He swooped in and tickled her but she took a step back and crossed her arms.

"I want to play sisters, and I'll throw a tantrum if you say no."

"Hey, no tantrums!" he protested. "You're supposed to be good while your parents are off getting your Midwinter presents." She pouted at him and he gave in. "Only for a little while then."

"You'll play dress ups with me too?"

"Dress ups? There's nothing to dress up in."

"Aunty Sabine has lots of dresses and things in the chest in your bedroom. I found them when I was hiding there."

"No," he insisted. "We're not touching Aunty Sabine's things. They're hers."

"She won't mind! She's let me try her jewellery on before."

Mattes shook his head at her. "No. I'm not playing dress ups, and especially not with Sabine's things."

Little Goodwin pouted. "I'll throw a really big tantrum," she threatened.

"We can do something else and have lots of fun," Mattes tried.

Little just took a big mouthful of air and then fixed her eyes on Mattes. His eyes widened. "You're not doing that again! Your mama told me about that one, you little mumper." She just stared at him, not breathing, her face turning red. He let out a string of curses in Hurdik. "Come on Little, just breathe. You're being ducknobbed. We can do something else fun instead." The little girl kept on stubbornly staring at him. He tried tickling her, and then picked her up and shook her gently, and then tried tipping her upside down to see if that would either make her breathe without thinking or make her laugh. Apparently she had an iron will just like her ma. He set her back down again and saw that her face was purple by now. No wonder Tom had said Clary was beside herself when Little had deliberately made herself faint; he had no idea what to do, and Little was starting to sway on her feet now. "Fine," he said, desperate. "I'll do it."

She immediately let out the air she was holding and took in a fresh breath. "There," she said, and gave him a satisfied smile. "That wasn't so hard now, was it?"

……………………………………

They both heard the knock on the door and Little Goodwin beamed. "I'll get it!"

"No!" said Mattes, horrified. "Not yet, Little!" She was running for the door, tripping over the skirts as they trailed on the floor and the large shoes on her feet. "CLARY, DON'T COME IN!" he bellowed.

It was too late; Little was already pulling the door open. "Hello Mama, hello Da! Me and Uncle Matty were playing sisters, and we dressed up and it was lots of fun!"

Clary and Tom both stared at her. She was dressed in an adult's dress with ribbons all through her hair, and face paints caked onto her face. Necklaces were piled around her neck and bracelets snaked all the way up her arms. "Look at my face paints!" she said. "Don't I look grown up? Uncle Matty did them, and I did his and it was lots of fun."

"You put face paints on Uncle Matty?"

"I don't know how you two managed to breed such a little monster," said Mattes.

Clary and Tom both looked up to see him standing in the doorway, dressed up and decorated much the same as Little – except the face paints looked even worse. They burst out laughing and he rolled his eyes.

"She tried the fainting thing," he complained.

Clary was laughing so hard that there were tears running down her face. Tom chuckled and scooped up his little daughter. "You're a right little mumper," he told her.

"The style of that dress suits you well," Clary managed between gasps. "Gods, I wish Beka and Sabine were here to see this." She wiped at her eyes, composing herself.

Mattes ignored her. "You might want to get the monster in the bath. I'm getting out of these things."

Clary gave him a sly grin. "I see Sabine's leaving herself some spare things at your place now."

Mattes scowled at her. "I've already been tormented by the little version of you all afternoon. This is too much for one day," he complained, and shut himself in the bedroom to change.

"I had lots of fun," announced Little, "but Uncle Mattes sulks too much when we play sisters."


	3. Fun and Games

Prompt: Candles

Mattes stood before his former partner looking sheepish. "Me and Little were just having fun."

"She has a proper name," snapped Clary.

"But I like it, Mama," piped up her daughter. She'd suddenly gone all sweet and adorable and decided to cling to her mother's skirts. "Uncle Jewel said that it fits because I'm like a little one of you. And you and Da are both bigger than me."

Mattes gave Clary a lazy grin. "I wasn't aware that you didn't like nicknames, Clara."

She scowled back at him. "That isn't the important thing right now."

"I don't know why you're intent on blaming me. It was all her idea, she's bossy just like her ma."

"I'm blaming _you _because she's four years old and you're in your forties."

"Come on Clary, you can't stop her from having a bit of fun. Little Goodwin loves her fun, isn't that right?" Little Goodwin nodded her head emphatically.

"I'm not trying to stop her from having fun, I'm trying to stop the two of you from ruining my house. Really, Mattes. If she wants to pretend to be a four-legged dog like Achoo, then that's fine so long as you make sure she's in an old dress or an old pair of breeches." She crossed her arms and glared at him. "What isn't fine is you deciding with your sarden cracked nob that my nice lavender scented candles would be perfect to play fetch with."


	4. Difficulties

Prompt: Traditions

Mattes settled his extensive form into a chair. "So what are you doing for Midwinter?"

Clary shrugged. "The three of us will probably have a fairly quiet night. We'll make a nice dinner and tell her some stories. Sing some Midwintery songs if she wants, and play with her gifts with her before we put her to bed."

Tom took hold of her hand. "Time was, we'd pull out the brandy and make the most of the longest night of the year. Even with the door locked, we couldn't do that now. As soon as she decides she wants to come in, we can't just leave her out there."

Clary blushed a little, but gave her husband a wistful smile. "I don't regret having her or anything, it's just that four year olds can be very time consuming."

Tom smiled back at her. "We'll have to think up some more child-friendly traditions."

They all listened to the two pairs of footsteps thundering around the house; Little Goodwin and Achoo had gone all silly and were running around the house together. Achoo was barking and wagging her tail, while Little was shouting "WOOF WOOF WOOF" and shrieking with laughter. It wasn't hard at all to understand how Clary and Tom struggled to get time to themselves.

"I could take her home with me for the night," Mattes offered.

Clary eyed him intently. "Are you having difficulties with Sabine?"

Mattes blinked at her. "No, not that it's any of your business."

"Well then aren't you going to be busy canoodling?"

He frowned and leaned forwards in her chair. "You'll treat her with respect-"

"And you'll treat me with respect," she snapped. "Don't you dare go thinking you can throw a little tantrum at _me_. Honestly Mattes, it's heading on for twenty years since we became partners." She gave him a cuff around the head. "As if it's not any of my business," she muttered. "Overgrown looby."

Beka hid a smile. "She could stay with me for the night," she said. They all turned to look at her and she looked at the floor. "I'm going up to Provost's House for dinner, but I could come by for her after that. I don't have anything else planned."

Clary and Tom looked at each other. "It's sweet of you to offer, Beka," said Tom. "And you too, Mattes. But we couldn't ask either of you to do that."

Clary nodded. "Just because things are different now with a child in the house doesn't mean we can't manage her."

"It's not a question of whether you can _manage _her," replied Mattes, looking amused. "It's just pretty obvious that Little Goodwin needs to be entertained elsewhere so that you two can do some uninterrupted canoodling."

Little Goodwin and Achoo chose that moment to run up to them. "I heard my name! What are you saying about me?"

"Nothing," said Clary. "You go and play with Achoo some more."

"Hey, Little," began Mattes. She looked at him, her blue eyes earnest. "How would you like to stay with Beka for a night at Midwinter?"

Her whole face lit up. "Really? Can I really stay with Beka and Achoo and Pounce? That would be the best Midwinter treat ever!"

"It's a lot of trouble, and it's not necessary," replied Clary.

Mattes snorted. "Of course it's not necessary, but you want to all the same. Besides, it works out well for Beka and me too. A happy Sergeant leads to happy Dogs."

"And happy Little!" Little Goodwin clung to Beka's leg. "I'm not letting go until you say yes! Please please please please please?"

Tom looked at Clary. "Love, she's obviously happy with it. If Beka's sure that she doesn't mind, I don't see why not. I certainly wouldn't mind having you all to myself for a while." He flashed her a playful grin.

Clary relented. "If you're sure, Beka. She's a bit of a handful sometimes."

Beka smiled. "I know," she said and ducked her head. "I'm sure."

"I'm _more _than a handful," announced Little Goodwin. "I'm even bigger than two handfuls together. Lots and lots bigger."

Mattes pulled the little girl onto his lap. "That's the worrying part," he told her seriously.

"You're bigger," she insisted. "You're even more handfuls, Uncle Matty."

"The sad thing is, she's right," muttered Clary.

…………………….

"There's no point in doing that," said Little.

Beka looked at the blankets she held. "What do you mean? Your mama gave us these so we could make up a bed on the floor for you to sleep in."

"But I want to sleep with you." Little Goodwin made her eyes go big and wide. "Just like when Mama and Da let me sleep in their bed when I have a bad dream." She gave Beka her sweetest smile. "So there's no point in doing that, because I'll just pretend I had a bad dream and climb in with you anyway."

Beka laughed. "You really do take after your mother," she said. "Only, don't tell her I said that."

Little Goodwin smiled again. "I won't…so long as you let me sleep in your bed."

………………….

Beka was glad that it was winter and that her room cooled down in the night. Between a cat, a dog, and a four year old who were all intent on snuggling into her, it got crowded and hot pretty quickly.

…………………

"Hello Mama, hello Da!" Little Goodwin gave them both a big hug and let her da scoop her up. "Me and Beka and Achoo and Pounce had lots and lots of fun and I was perfectly behaved just like you said to, and me and Beka had breakfast with her friends and they all made a fuss of me." She beamed.

Beka looked at the floor. "I'm sorry, I should've checked first," she mumbled.

Clary kicked her ankle lightly. "Don't be a daft, Cooper, I know full well you have breakfast with them every day. They're your friends, and they're not going to corrupt my daughter in the time it takes to eat breakfast."

"My favourite was the man with white hair," announced Little. "He has white hair but he isn't old and wrinkly, and he let me sit on his lap and he gave me sweets. And he whispered in my ear that he loves Beka and Beka loves him but she pretends she doesn't and that makes him sad, so I have to tell her lots and lots of times that she should give him kisses." Beka flushed as Tomlan burst out laughing.

Clary grinned. "So maybe he did corrupt her, but it makes for good entertainment. Maybe we should make this a yearly tradition."


	5. A little luck

Prompt: Luck

Little Goodwin came running into the kennel ahead of her da. "Hello Mama! Me and Da got bored so we came to visit you."

Mattes turned around and grinned. "Look at that, it's my favourite Goodwin!" Clary scowled and Little poked her tongue out at him, but came to say hello anyway. "Do you know what day it is today?" he asked her.

"The first day of Midwinter! Da told me."

Mattes nodded. "And what does that mean?"

Little had to think about this. "It's only six more sleeps until I get lots of presents!"

Some of the Dogs nearby chuckled. "Well, yes," said Mattes, "but more importantly, I need to get some Midwinter luck."

Little stared at him. "That's not more important."

"It is to me," he told her, and scooped her up. He planted a kiss on her cheek, set her back down again, and grinned at her. "And now I have it."

She stuck her tongue out at him again and skipped back to her parents at her mother's desk. "Hey, Mama." She tugged on her breeches. "Uncle Matty just kissed me," she said, and giggled.

Laughter broke out around the kennel, with the Dogs whistling and clapping. "Uh oh," said Tom, his blue eyes sparkling. "I thought I still had ten years or so before I had to start worrying about giggling and kisses and boys."

"Uncle Mattes isn't a boy," she informed him. "He's a man." Little Goodwin had no idea why this seemed to be so funny, but Aunty Osgyth was laughing so hard she was wiping tears from her eyes. Another thought occurred to her, and she walked back to Uncle Mattes. "Hey," she said, and poked him. "Aren't you supposed to be slobbering all over Aunty Sabine?"

"Ooh, Matty, now you're in for it," called one Dog.

"You're in trouble now.'

"Yeah Mattes, why aren't you slobbering all over –"

Mattes shot the last Dog a glare and he wisely shut up. Mattes smiled down at Little. "Oh, I see the problem now. Was I not slobbery enough? I'll work up plenty of slobber and try again." He made a big show of licking his lips and Little Goodwin squealed and ran. Uncle Jewel's lap seemed to be a nice safe spot, so she scrambled up.

"Don't let Uncle Matty slobber on me," she told him. She wriggled until she was comfortable and then gave him the sweetest smile she could manage. "Will you tell me a story?"


	6. Hanging Mischief

Prompt: Mistletoe

"Karel, fetch me the reports please." Corporal Finian Karel hurried to his desk and returned with a stack of papers for Clary. He turned to walk back to his place in the ranks when one of the Dogs called out.

"Hey, you can't go back yet!" People stared, but others joined in.

"You're not allowed to leave there yet."

"Not until ye've kissed 'er."

Clary was completely confused. "Are you all cracknobbed?"

"Mistletoe!"

Clary looked up and swore. "Who's the sarden bugnob who put that up there?" She looked around the room and saw that there were several other little bunches of mistletoe hanging from the ceiling. Dogs were hurriedly shifting away from them just in case anybody decided they were too close to being underneath them. She looked at her former partner and narrowed her eyes.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" he asked, appearing to be completely unconcerned.

Taking advantage of her distraction, Karel leaned in and kissed her quickly on the cheek, before hurriedly getting out of her reach. Some of the Dogs cheered or whistled, but Clary ignored them and focused on the main troublemaker. "I'm looking at you because this mistletoe might as well spell out 'Mattes the cracknobbed looby did it'," she snapped.

He grinned at her. "It's just a bit of festivity, to get us into the Midwinter spirit."

She strode over looking like a predator about to make a kill. "Well, next time pick a less disruptive form of festivity!" She poked him in the chest. "Look at all the disorder you've caused in my kennel." She realised that the Dogs seemed to be laughing and joking about something. "What now?" she snapped.

"Mistletoe," managed one of them, and everybody burst out laughing.

Clary looked up and saw that they were standing under another bunch of mistletoe. "You, you – I don't even have words to describe your level of idiocy!" She gave him a solid cuff around the head. "Pox rot you," she snapped.

"I didn't stand here on purpose," he reassured her. "Although I couldn't have done it better if I'd tried." He grinned.

"Get kissing already," called one of the Dogs.

"It's ten years of bad luck if you don't," said another.

Mattes gave her one of his sarden irritating grins, and put one hand behind her head and the other around her waist. Just as she was thinking that it was a bit over the top for a simple kiss on the cheek, his mouth met hers. Her eyes opened wide in shock, and noise broke out around the kennel as the Dogs laughed, whistled or shouted comments. After several long moments of shock, it finally occurred to her to do something other than _kissing Mattes_, and she stomped on his foot. He gave a sharp intake of breath, the pain in his foot momentarily distracting him, and she took advantage of that to twist her leg around his and dump him on the floor. "You can stay after the shift and take all of it down," she snapped. She turned to start restoring some order and froze, seeing the worried face of her four year old daughter in the doorway. "Tom," she managed. She forced herself to look up at his face, and then relaxed. It was obvious that he wasn't quite sure what was going on, but was amused rather than angry or jealous. "Mistletoe," she explained. He looked up at the ceiling and grinned. "A certain cracknobbed barbarian thought it would be a good idea."

"Mama, what's mistletoe? And why are there plants growing on the roof? And why were you kissing Uncle Matty? And why were you kissing him on the mouth? You shouldn't do that because I like Da being Da and Uncle Matty being Uncle Matty, I don't want Uncle Matty to be Da and Da to be Uncle Da."

Tom picked her up and sat her on his shoulders. "I'm not going anywhere, I promise. Mistletoe is that plant up there, and if two people are standing under it they have to kiss each other or they have bad luck for ten years."

Little Goodwin's eyes widened. "That's almost forever!"

Tom grinned. "Exactly. So that's why Mama was kissing Uncle Mattes."

"Oh," she said. "Poor Mama."

The Dogs all burst out laughing. "Hey," he protested. "I'll have you know I'm very good at kissing."

"I don't _want _to know," she retorted.

"Neither did I," muttered Clary.

"How was he?" one of the mot Dogs asked.

"Kiss him yourself if you're that sarden desperate to know," she snapped.

"MAMA SAID A NAUGHTY WORD!"

Clary frowned. "Go and say hello to Achoo," she ordered. "The rest of you, get your sorry bums out on duty."

"That's another rude word!" said Little. She skipped across the room singing "Bum bum bum," as the Dogs piled out into the street. She could've gone on like that for hours, but she was soon distracted by greeting Achoo – and being greeted by her in return. Beka and Mattes waited nearby for Achoo, and Little Goodwin eyed her Uncle Matty suspiciously. "You'd better not kiss my mama again," she told him seriously.

Beka giggled. "He was just being silly."

Little nodded her head. "He's always silly."

"I was just making sure I didn't end up with ten years of bad luck," protested Mattes.

Little Goodwin looked up and realised she was under the mistletoe too. "It's sarden everywhere," she complained.

"Hey, naughty words," warned Mattes.

Little stuck her tongue out at him. "Mama said it," she pointed out. She had more important matters to think about though. She wasn't entirely sure if dogs could get mistletoed, but if she had bad luck for ten whole years she'd be _old _by the time it stopped. There wasn't much point in risking it. "Achoo, kissy!" she ordered, and kissed her on the nose. Achoo wagged her tail and licked her from her chin to her hairline. Little giggled. "That tickled!" she said, and wiped her face on her sleeve.

"We'd better go," said Beka. "Achoo needs to come with us."

Little gave her her best pout, but Uncle Matty agreed with Beka. "We do have to go," he told her. "We'll see you later, Little."

She nodded, disappointed, and looked back to where her parents were talking at her mother's desk. They looked like they were busy being boring, so she looked towards Corporal Karel's desk. He was just sitting there all by himself, writing things. It looked like he could do with some company. "Sarden, bum, bum, sarden," she whispered, just because she could, and skipped across the room to him.

…………………………

Within minutes, Little Goodwin was fast asleep on Corporal Karel's lap. "I'm just working here, minding my own business," he commented, loud enough that the couple at the Sergeant's desk would be able to hear him. "I'm not paying attention at all to the mistletoe above the desk or anything that might be going on over there."

Clary and Tom both stopped mid-conversation and looked up at the mistletoe above them. "He put it sarden everywhere," muttered Clary.

Tom grinned. "I'm happy he thought to put some above your desk, love," he murmured. "Although I'm not quite sure what I think of you kissing the message runners," he added, teasing her.

"You've got to kiss me now."

"I know," he replied, his blue eyes sparkling.

And this time when lips met hers, Clary did nothing to discourage them at all.


	7. Mix up

Prompt: Wine

"My raspberry twilsey tastes nicer than yours."

Tom looked up, confused, and Clary frowned. "We've only got the one type of raspberry twilsey."

"No," insisted Little. "You and Da always drink a different one. I tried a little bit and it tasted funny and made my throat go all warm. And I thought it might get better if I tried some more so I drank a whole cup but it s-still tasted funny and it shtill made my th-throat go warm. Sh-so I like mine better." She poked her tongue out and then collapsed into a fit of giggles.

Clary had a fair idea what she'd gotten into. She walked through to the kitchen and sure enough, the bottle of wine they'd opened the night before was in a different place and looked much emptier. Little had been giggling the entire time still, but she suddenly stopped. Clary hoped that was a good sign. "Tom," she called. "She drank the wine."

"She's made that fairly obvious, love," he answered. Clary sighed; she wasn't looking forward to having a drunken four year old on her hands. She stopped as she went back in, wrinkling her nose. Little was fast asleep in her da's arms, a pool of vomit at his feet.

"She's not a bad drunk," Tom told her cheerfully. "Just a bit of giggling before she barfed the lot up and passed out."

Clary eyed the vomit with disgust. "You're cleaning that up then, since you think it's not that bad. And make sure the floor is spotless."

Tom just grinned and swung their daughter over to her. "Of course."

Clary sighed as she settled Little on her hip. They'd have to find a higher place to store the wine.


	8. Sharing

Prompt: Generosity

"Hello! I remember you!" Little ran across the kennel, her two dolls in her hands. "I don't remember your name though."

The man stopped and smiled at her. "It's Nestor. And you're Little Goodwin."

She beamed and nodded. "Can I call you Uncle Nestor? Like with Uncle Mattes and Uncle Jewel? And Uncle Gershom, except Mama says I have to call him my lord Gershom, but my lord Uncle Gershom and Uncle my lord Gershom both sound silly."

Nestor chuckled. "You can call me Uncle Nestor if you want."

Little nodded her head emphatically. "I do want. Will you play dolls with me? Da's gone to buy a birthday present for Mama, so I have to stay here with Mama but she's busy and everyone else is out on watch."

Nestor glanced at Clary. He was busy too, but he had to speak with her and she was well occupied with the message runners clamouring for her attention. "Just for a little while," he told her.

Little bounced up and down with excitement, and looked at her two dolls before holding one out for him. "You can play with this one, because she doesn't have brown hair and I like the one with brown hair more because it's like mine and Da's and Mama's."

Nestor hid a grin. "That's very generous of you," he said seriously.

"What does that mean?"

"Nice."

"Oh." She smiled, and then looked at the doll he held and decided she'd better clarify just in case he'd misunderstood. "You have to give her back when we're finished though. She's mine."


	9. Catastrophe

Prompt: Trees

Clary and Tom stared at the large area of destruction. Little Goodwin stared at them, her lower lip wobbling.

"How did you manage to knock over an entire tree?" asked Tom, astonished.

Clary scowled. "I told you not to fiddle with it!"

Little burst into tears. "I didn't mean to!" she sobbed. "I just wanted to reach the bells."

She'd spent what seemed like all day the day before fiddling with those bells and giving her mother a headache. Clary had sneakily moved them higher up the tree after her daughter had gone to sleep, but now it looked like it would've been better to leave them and put up with the constant noise.

Tom picked Little up and let her bury her face in his shoulder. "Don't you worry, it's nothing that can't be fixed. It's alright."

"It's not alright," snapped Clary. "I told her yesterday not to touch them again, and now she's destroyed all our hours of work spent potting that tree and decorating it." Her attention turned back to her crying daughter. "Stop that crying, it's not going to fix anything." This only resulted in Little's wails becoming louder. Clary swore. "And now I've got a sarden headache before watch for the second day in a row because of her, and I should've left several minutes ago."

"Don't worry love, I've got everything under control," Tom reassured her. Clary looked from the crying child in his arms to the toppled tree and the soil and decorations scattered across the floor, and snorted. "You give Mama her goodbye kiss before she goes," prompted Tom.

Little's tears stopped momentarily. "No." She sniffed. "Mama's mean," she said, and resumed her crying.

"Mean?" Clary scowled. "Maybe I didn't want a kiss anyway," she snapped, and she walked out the door, letting it slam behind her.

Little howled even more loudly. Tom sat in a chair, settled her on his knee, and pulled out his handkerchief to dry her eyes with. "It's alright," he told her as she calmed down. "It shouldn't be too hard to fix it all up."

"But Mama doesn't love me anymore," said Little, and she burst into tears all over again.

"Of course Mama loves you," he told her. "Mama's just sad because the pretty tree fell over and grumpy because she likes to have everything exactly how she wants it."

"I didn't want the tree to fall over either," Little said. "It just happened."

Tom hid a smile. "We'll make sure we put the bells down low this time. How about we fix the tree right now, so it looks all pretty again and makes Mama happy when she gets home?"

Little Goodwin nodded, wiped her eyes on her sleeve, and then scrambled off her da's knee so they could fix the tree.


	10. Best thing ever

Prompt: Iceskating

Little Goodwin now knew that the best thing in the whole of Tortall was gliding along on the ice on top of where the river usually was. She didn't even have to worry about falling over, because Mama and Da were holding her hands and pulling her with them. Uncle Matty had teased her, saying that if one of them fell over then they'd pull her down with them, but she knew he was being silly. Mama and Da would never do anything like falling over, they just didn't do those kinds of things. It was people like Little that fell over, and people like Mama and Da that were there to give the falling people kisses when they hurt themselves. Although, she wouldn't mind falling over this time so long as she went right through the ice. It looked like it would hurt to fall on it, but Mama said that if she went right underneath it then the sprites would save her. Little thought that that sounded quite fun, but for now she was happy with the gliding.


	11. Bad Dream

Prompt: Love

Clary sat up in bed, hearing Little's wails coming from the next room. "Tom?" She shook his shoulder, but his snores continued. "Tom!" The snores stopped, so she said "She's crying and calling out for us." She felt him rubbing at his eyes before he sat up too.

"Why wake me up?" he asked.

Clary rolled her eyes in the darkness. "The matches are on your side of the bed at the moment, you great looby." She had to remember to get some more the next time she was at the markets.

"Oh." She heard him fumbling around before the match struck and he lit the candle.

She'd had to wake him rather than risk breaking an ankle on something in the darkness, but she felt bad about it now. "I'll go," she offered, reaching for the candle.

"It's fine," he insisted. "You stay here and rest, you must be exhausted after watch." Clary kissed him on the cheek and he grinned at her and climbed out of bed as she snuggled back under the covers.

It wasn't long before Tom was coming back into the room, with one arm around Little. Both of her arms were clinging around his neck, looking as though she was half suffocating him. He came over to the bed and put the candle down carefully before trying to get the crying child off him. "You've got to let go so we can both climb into bed," he told her, smiling slightly. "Otherwise we have to stand here all night."

Clary gave a soft snort of amusement. "Come to Mama." The next thing she knew, there was a small, trembling, sobbing bundle of four-year-old clinging to her and burying her wet face into Clary's chest.

"She had a bad dream," explained Tom. This actually appeared to have been a real bad dream, not the sort of bad dream where Little turned up in their bedroom by herself looking unworried but announcing she had a bad dream and wanted to sleep in their bed.

"Everything's alright," Clary told her, and stroked her hair to soothe her. Tom climbed into bed too, leaving the candle lit for a while. He cuddled up against Little's other side.

"It's not alright," mumbled Little. "Uncle Matty said he didn't love me anymore and then he ate Da and then he ate Mama."

"That can't be right," said Clary. "We're both still here."

"But I saw him," said Little.

Tom chuckled "I'm bigger than Uncle Matty, and your mama's too scary."

Clary rolled her eyes at him over their daughter's head, but Little giggled a bit before sniffling again. "Mama would make him stop," said Little, sounding more certain of herself. "And Da's tummy is too big to fit in Uncle Matty."

Tom looked affronted, and Clary grinned and stuck her tongue out at him. He put a look of absolute terror on his face and she rolled her eyes again, although she was smiling at the same time. Little, having no idea that anything was going on above her, snuggled into Clary even more, her sobs having finally subsided.

Clary tried not to think about what the front of her nightdress would be like. "It was just a bad dream," she reassured her. "Uncle Mattes loves you very much."

"He does?" asked a small voice.

"Of course he does," added Tom. "We both love you very much too."

"Really?"

"Of course," said Clary.

"What about Beka?"

"She loves you too."

"And Aunty Sabine?"

"Her too."

"And Achoo?"

"Yes."

"And Pounce?"

"And Pounce too, and Uncle Jewel and Aunty Osgyth and Aunty Mya and Uncle Nestor and everybody else you could possibly think of."

"Everybody?"

"Everybody," confirmed Tom.

"Even the bad people?"

Tom grinned at Clary and raised his eyebrows. "Maybe not the bad people," Clary told her. "But you wouldn't want them to love you anyway, would you?"

Little shook her head emphatically. "No, because they're bad." She wriggled until she was comfortable. "I love everybody too," she announced. "Except for the bad people."

Clary grinned. "That's my good gixie," she said, and stroked Little's hair. "How about another goodnight kiss for Mama and Da?"

There was no reply, so Tom leaned over to have a look. "She's fast asleep," he whispered. A playful gleam came into his blue eyes. "I can supply your goodnight kiss though," he told her, and did just that. Careful not to wake Little, he blew out the candle, and in no time at all, all three of them were fast asleep.


	12. Bells

Prompt: Bells

Clary frowned and looked up as she heard the distant jangling steadily becoming louder. Little came running into the kennel ahead of Mattes. "Look what Uncle Matty gave me!" She waved her arms and legs, and Clary saw there were sets of bells tied around her wrists and ankles, and some more around her waist and in her hair.

Clary shot Mattes a suspicious look. "Why have you got bells all over my daughter?"

Little was running around the kennel in excitement, showing everybody her bells.

Mattes just grinned at her. "I heard about the incident with the tree."

Tom smiled too. "Now I think she'll have enough to keep her occupied. Thank you, from all of us. And for looking after her this afternoon."

"Little already thanked me," he said. "Her ma's got her very well trained."

Tom chuckled and Clary glared at Mattes. "Nice try," she snapped. "Do you have any idea how annoying those bells are going to be?"

"I'd best get her home," said Tom. "Little! It's time to go." She pouted but came over reluctantly. Tom ruffled her hair. "That's my good gixie. When we get home I'll admire those pretty bells properly."

Little beamed and skipped out the door.


	13. Snow

Prompt: Snowflakes

"Mama, Mama, it's snowing!"

Clary looked up from the soup she was making. "It's early this year. It's as well I got the vegetables in."

"But come and look at it."

Clary shook her head in amusement at her daughter's excitement. "I've seen snow before."

Little made her eyes go wide. "But this is the best snow ever! You'll be sad if you miss it."

"We'll all be sad if our lunch spoils," retorted Clary.

"Well, I'm going out there," announced Little. "So you'd best come to the porch and make sure I'm all snugly bundled up."

Clary sighed, knowing that she couldn't cook and stop her from going out into the cold at the same time. It was best to make sure she was properly dressed so she wouldn't get sick. "Don't go yet, I'll just be a moment," she ordered, and hurried to make sure that everything would be fine for a few minutes.

It was almost a struggle to get Little properly wrapped up; the little girl was so eager to get outside that she couldn't keep still.

Finally, Clary opened the door to let her out, but Little clung to her leg. "Please come out with me for a little while, Mama? I'll get all lonely by myself out there." She pouted. "Da and Uncle Matty and Beka all would."

Clary gave in. "Just for a very little while," she told her, and they walked out the door together.

"Look at all the snow!" exclaimed Little, and she jumped up and down in a patch of it. Next she stuck her arms out, watching as snowflakes fell from the sky to land on her blue coat. "Look, Mama! I can see all the shapes of every little snowflake!" She waved one of her arms in front of Clary's face. "See? You try it too!"

Clary lifted one arm just a little bit, and then inspected it closely to look at the snowflakes. Little was right; each one could be looked at separately, all tiny and perfect in their snowflake shape.

"Da showed me how to catch snowflakes on my tongue," Little said. She threw her head back, opened her mouth, stuck her tongue out, and waited. After several moments she squealed and then giggled. "It's cold," she explained. "But it's fun. You try it too!"

Clary shook her head. "You do it again and I'll watch you."

Little put her hands on her hips and looked at her mother. "Just because you're old doesn't mean you have to be boring, you know, " she told her seriously.

"I am _not _boring!"

"Well, you never do anything fun."

Clary could think of plenty of fun things she did…but they were all things that four year olds shouldn't know about. Sighing, she checked around to make sure that nobody was watching, and then stuck her tongue out. Delighted, Little joined in straight away. The cold touch of the snowflake on her tongue was a shock, and Clary laughed. Little giggled too, and then hugged Clary around the legs. "See Mama? It's fun!"

"Look at that, my two favourite gixies waitin' out to greet me when I come home for lunch."

Clary had turned to smile at her husband, but swore instead when he mentioned lunch. She rushed inside as Tom stared, confused.

"I think our lunch might be burning or something," said Little wisely. "But that's alright, because me and Mama had lots of fun."


	14. Cooks

Prompt: Surprise

"Mama, I brought you something. Me and Uncle Matty have been cooking."

Clary blinked. She was sitting on her bed, catching up on the reports that needed going over. "You and Mattes, cooking? The kitchen's not on fire, is it?"

Little shook her head. "Uncle Matty said it would be nice to give you this," she told her. She placed a bowl of something on the bed and then skipped out of the room.

Clary glanced at the bowl for long enough to see there was a spoon so, still focused on what she was reading, she shovelled a mouthful onto the spoon. Experience with barbarian food in the past had taught her it was best not to pay too much attention to what she was eating, anyway.

She put the food in her mouth and resisted the urge to spit it back out. She'd expected something disgusting, but at least she'd expected something hot and disgusting. This was cold and disgusting and tasted exactly like mud. Come to think of it, whatever he'd cooked up had ended up looking very much like mud too. Her eyes widened as she heard muffled laughter nearby and she lunged for the bowl and spat the mouthful back out.

"_Mattes!" _The laughter erupted and she heard two pairs of footsteps running down the stairs_. _"Pox rot you, you sarden festering fen-sucked bugnobbed looby!"


	15. Cat

Prompt: Kiss

"Mama, look! It's Beka's cat!" exclaimed Little. She jumped up and down in excitement. "Pounce!" she called, and went running towards him.

Pounce saw her and ran away, and Little burst into tears.

"Look what you've done, you craven furball," scolded Beka. "Get back here now." Pounce just twitched his tail at her, and Beka glared. "I won't give you fish or treats for a week," she threatened.

The next thing Little knew, she could feel fur rubbing against her legs. Her tears stopped instantly and her face lit up. "Pounce!" Carefully, she bent down and patted him gently just like Mama and Beka taught her. Pounce purred and she beamed. "Cuddle time!" she announced, and she put his hands around his middle and picked him up, cradling him in her small arms. Pounce did lots of meowing, and Mama and Beka laughed. Little just cuddled him tightly. He struggled a little bit, but didn't scratch or bite her. "Good cat," she told him, and kissed him on the head. He yowled even more loudly, and Beka and Mama laughed again.

"He's sulking," said Mama.

Little shook her head, exasperated. "Silly Pounce. Cuddle time is lots of fun."


	16. White

Prompt: Snowflakes

Clary stopped in her tracks as she came out of the Watch Commander's office. The entire inside of the kennel looked white. "I wasn't even in there an hour!" she protested.

Little came running over. "Look, Mama! Aunty Yoav showed me how to make snowflakes."

Clary blinked. "What happened to calling her Aunty Osgyth?"

"Oh. Well, Aunty Offgiff's just really hard to say," replied Little. "But look at my snowflake!" She waved the piece of paper in front of Clary's face. Looking around the room, Clary realised the walls were covered in them. Little realised what she was looking at. "Isn't it pretty? The others all helped us." She beamed up at her mother.

Clary suppressed a groan as she saw that all of her Dogs were sitting around on the benches, cutting holes in pieces of paper with their belt-knives. "Where'd you get this much paper from?"

Little shrugged. "They found it."

Osgyth looked up from her seat on the floor. "It's just from those old piles of reports that aren't needed anymore."

"Hey, Mama, I'll show you how to make them too." Little tugged on Clary's belt knife.

Clary clamped her hand on top of it. "You don't touch Mama's knives."

Little pouted. "The others all let me use their ones if I wanted them." Clary frowned, so she added hastily, "But they had to put their hands on top of mine so I didn't cut myself. Uncle Jewel made them." She gave Clary her sweetest smile. "So now we'll show you how to make them and you can help us."

"I'm busy."

"Please?"

"No, I've got lots of work to do."

"I'll scream," she threatened.

"Hey, Little, why don't you show Mama how to make them in the morning instead? The kennel already has lots of snowflakes, but your house doesn't have any." Mattes winked at Clary.

Little clapped her hands and jumped up and down in delight. "And we can make lots and lots and lots and lots and put them _everywhere _in the house and it'll look really _really _pretty!" She beamed.

Clary scowled.


	17. Mud

Prompt: Feast

"There's my favourite Goodwin!"

Clary scowled, and Little beamed and threw herself at Mattes. He picked her up and spun her around, and then winked at Clary from above Little's head.

Her expression didn't change. "I'll be upstairs," she said. "Both of you keep quiet and don't damage anything."

They both watched her go, and then Little wriggled in Mattes' arms. "I want to play outside!"

"It'll be cold," he warned.

Little shrugged. "You can wrap me up in all my warm things," she told him. "And it's sunny out there, and Mama never lets me play outside by myself, and she hardly ever comes out with me." She pouted, and Mattes grinned.

"Alright then, let's get you all bundled up."

……………….

"Pass me the apple pasties please, Uncle Matty."

Mattes looked carefully at all the piles of mud, trying to remember which was which. Finally, he reached out and scooped up a handful from one pile, and then offered it to her.

She scowled, looking just like her mother. "That's the bread," she told him, and he hastily dumped it back.

"Silly Uncle Matty," he said, and offered her some mud from another pile.

"That's the _meat _pasties, you looby!"

"Where are the apple ones then?"

Little just shook her head. He had no idea if she thought this was fun for him or if she was just tormenting him for her own fun. He tried the cake, the ham (twice), the soup, the sweetmeats, the berries, the sausages, and the raisin patties before he got the apple pasties by pure luck. Little grinned and was just about to pretend to eat it when she froze, her eyes wide.

Mattes turned around slowly, and found Clary behind him just as he'd expected. He gulped.

"Do you want to eat some feast too, Mama?" asked Little tentatively.

Clary crossed her arms and glared at them both. "No, I don't," she snapped. "Look at you both, you're completely _covered _in mud, and –"

She was cut off as a large dollop of mud hit her square in the face.

Little's eyes widened as she looked between her furious mother and Uncle Mattes as he sat there grinning at her. Mattes waved the muddy spoon. "I've been practicing," he announced.

The next thing Little knew, Uncle Mattes was face-down in the mud with her mama's boot planted solidly in the middle of his back. Her lower lip trembled, and Mattes saw.

"I'm alright," he told her. "Your mama wouldn't actually hurt me." He got to his feet and grinned at her, his arms held out to the sides. "See? I'm fine."

"Inside," ordered Clary. "Straight into the bath, both of you." She glared at Mattes. "I've still got reports to do, and I'm not having any of my Dogs turning up for duty looking filthy. And leave your loincloth on like last time."

Little giggled. "Yeah, Uncle Matty. I don't want to look at your icky boy bits."

"Does that mean you don't want to be tickled by my icky boy fingers?" He wiggled them at her. "Because they're coming to get you." Little squealed and ran, and Mattes was about to follow her when Clary caught hold of the back of his collar – about the only part of him that was free of mud.

"Anything with so much as a spot of mud gets taken off at the door," she ordered. "I'm not having _any_ of that filth coming inside my house."

"Bath time with Uncle Matty! Bath time with Uncle Matty!" Little was singing inside the house, already running around in just her shift and loincloth.

Clary's eyes narrowed as she remembered the last bath they'd had together and why her daughter was so happy about another one now. She gave Mattes a solid poke. "No silly games this time, no splashing, and keep the water in the tub."

Mattes just grinned at her. "Of course, Sarge."

She rolled her eyes and kicked his ankle lightly. "Just get moving."


	18. Overdose

Prompt: Forgiveness

"Hello there, Middle Goodwin." Mattes stood back to allow Sabine through the door and then followed him through.

Little giggled. "I'm Little."

Mattes pretended to stare at her in surprise. "You'll have to stop growing! I was sure you were your mama, you're getting so big."

She giggled again. "I'm still the littlest by a lot though."

Mattes grinned at her and winked at Sabine. She was watching them with amusement plain on her face. "So, littlest Goodwin, where are Middle and Big Goodwin?"

"_Clary _and _Tomlan _are in the kitchen," called Clary's voice.

"They're busy making lots of yummy food," added Little. Sabine strolled through to the kitchen, Little running to catch up so that she could hold her hand and skip along with her. "See, doesn't it look yummy? Except I don't know for sure yet because I'm not allowed to touch it." She pouted.

"Well, you're allowed to touch the yummy things that Uncle Mattes and Aunty Sabine brought," announced Mattes. Sabine was busy greeting the Goodwins and complimenting them on their cooking, so he began piling the contents of the bag he carried all over the bench. Little stood on her tiptoes, watching him intently. Her eyes lit up as soon as he pulled out a cloth packet so full of sweets that it was almost bursting at the seams.

He tossed them up and down lightly in one of his big hands. "Now, what should I do with these?" he asked. "Should I feed them to the goats?" Little was staring at the packet, her eyes wide and worried.

Sabine cuffed Mattes on the back of the head. "Don't tease her like that," she scolded, and took the sweets from his hand. She gave them straight to Little. "They're for you."

"What do you say?" prompted Clary.

Little beamed. "Thank you very much!" She jumped up and down from excitement.

"And now what would it be polite to do?" Little frowned at her mother, confused, so Clary beckoned her over and whispered in her ear.

"Oh!" said Little. She held the packet out to her mother. "Would you like one?"

"Thank you, but no," she replied. "And you should offer them to the guests first, starting with Lady Sabine because she's a noble."

Sabine opened her mouth to protest, but Little was already in front of her offering her sweets. She smiled and thanked her, but insisted that she'd rather save room for the delicious meal her parents had made. Little didn't notice her pinch Mattes's arm when she offered the sweets to him, although she did think it was a bit strange that he didn't want any sweets. He usually loved them. Finally Little offered them to her da, who also said that he needed to save room for the meal.

Little turned to Clary, exasperated. "That was a sarden waste of time," she complained.

"Language," came the reply as the other three chuckled. "And it was polite."

"And now you'll have to eat one for each of us," added Mattes "It's all the more for you."

"Make sure you leave enough room for the proper food," Clary warned.

Little just grinned at her, her mouth already stuffed full of sweets.

…………………………………….

"How about some more cake, Little?"

She nodded her head enthusiastically. "And more apple pasty? That's Little's favourite. And some more raspberry twilsey please?"

Mattes chuckled and piled another slice of cake and half an apple pasty onto her plate before refilling her cup.

Clary frowned as Little dug into the extra food. "Don't you go stuffing yourself too full," she warned.

"Come on Clary, it's Midwinter. A few sweet things won't hurt her." Mattes stared evenly at her.

Clary rolled her eyes. "She'll make herself sick if she's not careful."

Little shook her head emphatically. "Little's happy," she insisted, spraying crumbs everywhere as she spoke around a mouthful.

……………………………..

They moved away from the table to talk after they had all finished eating. Tom set a bowl full of sweets out on the table. "We bought some Midwinter sweets too," he explained with a grin.

Little bounced up and down from excitement on Clary's lap, but Clary shook her head. "You've had more than enough for one day."

"No I haven't!"

"No more," said Clary firmly.

Little pouted and made her bottom lip tremble. "You've _ruined _my Midwinter," she announced, and she got off her mother's lap to climb onto Sabine instead.

"You already had lots of sweets," Sabine reminded her. "You had them before we all sat down to eat."

"But these are different ones and I want to try them."

Mattes slipped a couple to Little and she hurriedly stuffed them in her mouth before anyone could take them away. Sabine and Clary each gave him a thump on the arm from either side of him, and Little giggled.

"Hey, we can still make you spit those out," teased Sabine as she smoothed Little's hair down.

Little's eyes widened but Clary shook her head. "We won't make you spit them out, so don't try to eat them faster. You'll end up choking yourself."

Little just poked her tongue out, the sweets already gone, and climbed onto Mattes's knee. "You're my favourite," she told him.

"Because I give you sweets?" Little grinned and nodded. "Well then, you're easy enough to please," he told her, and popped another one in her mouth. "The whole _point _of Midwinter is that you spoil the children," he told Clary as he saw her frown again.

"Play with me!" ordered Little.

Mattes grinned at her and wiggled his fingers. "See these fingers? They're going to tickle you." Little squealed and launched herself off his knee. They spent several minutes running around the house while the others watched, laughing. Finally, Mattes managed to corner her and tickled her until she was laughing so hard she couldn't talk. Then he swung her up onto his shoulders and paraded her around the house and then back to everyone else.

"Look how high up I am!" exclaimed Little. "I'm taller than everyone!" A new thought occurred to her. "Ooh, Uncle Matty, do the upside down one! That one's _really _fun!"

Mattes picked her up from his shoulders and deftly flipped her over in his arms, holding her tightly around the knees. "EVERYTHING'S UPSIDE DOWN!" she crowed, and waved her arms down towards the ground.

Mattes's chuckle was cut off as he felt a sudden warm wetness on his breeches. Little burst into tears, so Sabine took her from Mattes and handed her to Tom, since Clary was laughing so hard that there were tears rolling down her cheeks.

Little clung to Tom, her face buried in his shirt as she sobbed. "Do you feel like you're going to be sick again?" he asked her.

Little shook her head.

"I'm not surprised," managed Clary as she wiped at her eyes.. "Look at the amount of it on Mattes, I don't think she could possibly manage any more." Little just howled even more loudly.

"It's alright," Mattes reassured her. "I forgive you."

The sobs subsided for a moment. "What does that mean?" asked Little.

"It means that I'm not angry."

Little thought about this. "That's good," she decided, and she promptly fell asleep on her father's lap.


	19. Distraction

Prompt: Stories

Nyler Jewel suddenly turned his back on his conversational partners and scanned the room. "Where's Little gone?" he asked softly. Mattes and Osgyth swore from behind him.

"Keep quiet," warned Mattes. "We'll see if we can find her before the Sarge notices she's gone." He nodded his head towards the desk where Clary sat, her attention focused on paperwork and the occasional interruption by message runners. She hadn't reacted well the other times she'd realised that her daughter had wandered off.

Jewel eyed Achoo. "Tomlan, do you have anything of hers on you? Achoo could probably find her quicker than we can." Tom nodded and handed over the shawl he'd tucked under his coat. Jewel passed it to Beka and motioned for her to give it to Achoo. "Tom, you find some excuse to be at the desk with Clary, just check that Little isn't over there clinging to her leg or sommat, and try to keep her calm if she realises she's gone."

"I'll check the privies," offered Osgyth. "Just in case she's decided to go there without telling us."

Jewel nodded. "That leaves you, Mattes. Could you check the scent hounds' kennels? It's where she was last time. Make sure you check the baskets carefully and make sure she's not curled up in there with them again." He saw Tom shake his head at him from the desk and knew that Little wasn't there. Achoo now had Little's scent, but was going in circles all over the room. That was the trouble with having to find someone who ran around all over the place.

Ersken slipped in beside Beka. "Beka, what's Achoo doing? Has she gone silly again?"

Beka shook her head. "Don't make a fuss about it, but she's trying to find a certain four year-old," she murmured.

"She's in the healers' room," he answered. "She wandered over after they brought that cove with the broken arm in."

Beka traded looks with Jewel, and all three of them walked over to the door to the healers' room. Sure enough, Little Goodwin was in there, perched up on the bed beside the Dog that had been injured, and holding his hand.

"Once upon a time there was a little girl called Little, because she was the littlest one in the family. And she liked to do lots of fun things, like go sledding and making mud pies, and eating lots of sweets and yummy things. And she was even happier when it was Midwinter because she could do all of those and even more, like playing in the snow and it was lots of fun. And she was very, very happy. The End!" She beamed at him. "Is your arm better?"

"A little bit," he told her. Beka grinned, knowing that any improvement would be due to the healer busily working on the other side of him.

"When I get hurt, my mama always kisses it better," said Little. She looked at him thoughtfully and then frowned. "Except your mama isn't here right now, so you can borrow mine if you want. She's just out there." She pointed towards the door and then saw the group of people standing there. "Hello!" she exclaimed, and waved. "I'm being helpful," she told them and beamed.

"Helpful?" asked Jewel, hiding a smile.

She nodded enthusiastically. "I'm being a distraction! So he doesn't notice all the nasty horrible things that the healer has to do. I'm telling him lots and lots of stories to distract him."

They heard a commotion in the main room and turned to listen.

"Your mama wants to know where you are," explained Ersken. Little gave a sigh of resignation and blew a kiss towards the injured arm. The Dog grinned, and then Ersken came to lift Little down when she held her arms out.

Little went skipping straight out to the main room. "I'm here, Mama! I've forgotten his name, but the Dog in there wants you. I said he could borrow you for kisses."

The room erupted in laughter and Little frowned, her hands on her hips. "Not _those _sort of kisses!" she insisted. "The kissing better sort of kisses. Only Da's allowed to give my mama kissy kisses. And same with those noisy cuddles when they take their clothes off, because they do more kisses then too."

The laughter in the room increased.

"You're a big girl now," said Tom. "Why don't you go and kiss his arm better yourself?"

"But I'm not a mama."

"That doesn't matter," Mattes told her. "Just make it really slobbery to make up for it."

Little nodded. "That makes sense," she replied seriously, and skipped back to the healer's room while Clary glared at Mattes.

"You'd be more helpful if you went and slobbered on him yourself," she snapped.

Mattes just gave her a lazy grin. "Go and noisily cuddle yourself."


	20. Stuck

Prompt: Holly

Clary walked into her bedroom to find Little frowning into the mirror, Clary's belt knife clutched in her small hand. In one quick movement, Clary had grabbed her wrist and taken the knife away with her other hand. "I've told you countless times you're not to touch my knives," she snapped.

Little burst into tears. "But I can't get the prickly plant out of my hair!" she wailed.

Clary looked more closely – Little had holly tangled right through her long brown hair. She caught herself before she swore, and instead asked "How did you manage that?"

Little sniffed and wiped her eyes on her sleeve, and Clary pulled out her handkerchief and began drying her face properly. "I put it in my hair to make me look all pretty and midwintery and it was easy to put in but when I try to get it out again it just scratches my head and my hands." Her lower lip wobbled again as she showed Clary her scratch-covered hands.

"No more tears," ordered Clary. "I've had much bigger scratches, and I didn't cry." An idea occurred to her, and she brushed the hair back from the side of her face. "See? I even had part of my ear cut off."

Little stared, her eyes wide and her tears forgotten. "Didn't you even cry then, Mama?"

"No." Clary towed her over to the bed and sat down, standing Little between her knees. "Hold still."

Little nodded. "I'm going to be brave just like you, Mama. But you still have to _try _and stop the sarden thing from scratching me."

"Hey, no naughty words," Clary told her, and then let out a string of them herself as the holly scratched her too. Little giggled. Clary sighed and squeezed her tighter between her knees as she held the knife up. "Now you _really _have to hold still," she ordered. "Or you'll end up missing part of an ear too." Little gulped and froze, and Clary set to work.

A little while later, the last of the holly was out of Little's hair and joining the pile on the floor. Little pointed to it all. "You don't want it, do you?"

"No," replied Clary.

"Good," Little said, and she stomped on it with both feet. "It's stupid." Then she was off, skipping out the door and repeating all the swearwords that Clary had just said.

Clary shook her head. "I never caused this much trouble," she muttered.


	21. Dance

Prompt: Dancing

Tom smiled at Little's enthusiastic singing and slid a hand around Clary's waist. "How about a dance, love?"

She let him draw her closer. "I suppose it'd be rude to refuse," she replied, her brown eyes sparkling and the corner of her mouth turning up as she began to move with him.

"That it would," he agreed. "I'd hate to have to find some other pretty lass to have a Midwinter dance with."

"That's only because I'd get grumpy."

"Mama, why would you get grumpy?"

"Just because."

"But why?"

"Aren't you going to sing for us some more?" asked Tom. "We're having lots of fun dancing to your pretty singing."

Her small face lit up. "Really?"

Clary and Tom both nodded, so Little started singing again, a beaming smile on her face. Tom and Clary smiled each other, their movements gradually slowing, and Clary stood on tiptoes and put her arms around Tom's neck to kiss him. Little covered her eyes with her hands and sang even louder to cover up any kissing sounds. Neither Clary nor Tom noticed when the singing eventually stopped, and it took them a moment to register the small hands pushing them apart.

"Kissing's boring," insisted Little. "I want to dance too."

Clary smiled and sat down to watch them. "I can't believe I'm having my man stolen by my own daughter. And at the age of four, no less."

"You can sing, Mama!" Little told her. "That's lots of fun too."

Tom grinned at Clary, knowing that she insisted that her singing was atrocious and that she hated it, and also that she was far too prideful to tell that to her daughter. "But we liked your singing," he said to Little. "You're a clever girl, you'll be able to sing and dance at the same time." He took hold of her hands and let her place her feet on top of his, and then started moving them around the room. Little's singing soon gave way to giggling and shrieks of laughter.

Suddenly, she stopped and ran over to Clary, putting her feet on top of hers and grabbing her hands. "Mama's turn!" she announced. Tom chuckled and took Clary's place as she stood up with Little.

"You're much easier to dance with, Mama," said Little. "Da's got a big tummy and it gets in the way."

Clary burst out laughing as Tom tried to scowl and failed completely. "That's my girl," Clary said. "You tell your da not to eat so many sweets."

Little looked thoughtful. "Mama?" she asked. "You know how Uncle Matty said that you and Da grew me in the garden and then I tried to grow a baby in one of his pots and then Aunty Sabine found out and hit him and said I came from your tummy?"

Clary blinked and exchanged a puzzled look with Tom. "Well, no," she said, "but that's alright."

Little looked frustrated. "Of course you know. Silly Mama, you must've just forgotten. You know _everything_."

Clary grinned at Tom. "Of course I do."

"Well then," said Little. "Why didn't I come from Da's tummy instead? It's much bigger. Poor Little must've been squashed in Mama's tummy." She frowned at Clary's midsection.

"Poor Mama's tummy was being squashed by you," muttered Clary.

"It's not _my_ fault," said Little. "You should've put me in Da's tummy instead."

Tom reached out to scoop her up and settle her on his knee. "We didn't think of that," he told her. "We didn't have you here to tell us."

Little giggled. "Well, you're both a bit silly then."


	22. Friend

Prompt: Sled

"Please please _please_ can we do it again?"

Mattes lifted her off him and carefully set her down on the snowy ground before getting up himself and picking up the sled. "Of course!" he told her. "Race you to the top!"

He let her win, of course, and chuckled as she clapped her small hands with glee.

"You ready for another go?" he asked once he had himself settled on the sled.

Little launched herself onto his lap, and his feet lost the precarious hold they had on the snow-covered slope. The two of them went flying down the hillside on the sled, Little shrieking with laughter, and went even further than they'd managed to before. The sled hit a small bank of snow and sent both of them flying, Mattes managing to twist around in midair so that he landed beside Little rather than on top of her. "You alright?" he asked, hoping that he wouldn't have to return an injured or upset daughter to Clary. She wouldn't be pleased.

"I landed by a frog, Uncle Matty, look!" She pointed beside her.

"Keep quiet so you don't scare him," he told her as he bent down beside her.

"How do you know it's a boy?" asked Little. "Don't you have to look at its icky boy bits before you know it's a boy?"

"Of course frogs are boys, everyone knows that. They're actually princes that got turned into frogs by angry mages, and they're waiting for a pretty lass to give them a kiss to turn them back into a prince."

Little nodded wisely. "Uncle Jewel told me a story about that once." She looked at the frog. "Uncle Matty, am I pretty?"

"Of course you are!"

Little grinned and scooped up the frog, holding it tightly in her hands. "So I just kiss the frog and he turns back into a prince?"

Mattes nodded. "Well, maybe not straight away. He might be a bit shy."

Little frowned and kissed the frog. Nothing happened. "He must be shy," she agreed. "But that's alright, because the princess in Uncle Jewel's story let the frog live with her for a while first. I'll just take him home and give him kisses every day so he isn't as shy."

Mattes chuckled and then thought of something. "Just keep him away from your mama."

"Why?"

"Well…your mama's pretty too, you don't want her to give him the kiss that makes him a prince, do you?" Little shook her head, her eyes wide, and Mattes grinned. He was safe from Clary's wrath…for now.


	23. Tricks

Prompt: Treats

"Hello Beka, hello Achoo, hello Pounce!" Little gave Beka's legs a big hug and then bent down to pat Pounce. She meowed at him until he meowed back, and then she threw herself at Achoo. "Woof woof woof!" she said. Achoo just wagged her tail. "Look Achoo, Uncle Matty's been teaching me to growl. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr." Achoo turned her head on its side, confused, and Little clapped her hands and looked at the adults. "Was that scary? Uncle Matty said it was very scary." After they'd all reassured her that her growling was scary, she turned back to Achoo. "Come on Achoo, let's play dogs! WOOF WOOF WOOF WOOF WOOF!" She took off running around the house, Achoo bounding along behind her.

Finally, Little came and flopped down on the rug, but Achoo danced around her, whining and wanting to play some more.

"Achoo, diamlah" said Beka.

Little sat up instantly, her eyes fixed on Beka. "What does that mean?"

"It means 'quiet'," Beka told her.

"Why don't you just say 'quiet' then?"

"Because it's easier for Achoo when it's in a different language, because she doesn't hear it all the time. If I always gave her commands in Common she'd get confused when other things happened, like if your mama or da told you to be quiet."

"Does Achoo know other words too? What are they? Can you teach me?"

"I'll show you," said Beka. "Achoo, kemari." Achoo came running over and stood by Beka's feet. "Dukduk." Achoo sat, and Beka pulled out a dog treat and gave it to her.

"I want to do that too!" said Little. "Mama? We need some treats for me." Tom was already coming out of the kitchen with a cloth packet of sweets in his hand, and he tossed them to Beka. Little jumped up and down and clapped her hands.

"Tumit," said Beka, and walked around in a circle. Achoo walked closely beside her, and Little rushed to do the same. "Dukduk." Little saw Achoo sit and threw herself to the ground beside her.

"This is fun!" she said as Beka gave them each their treat.

Beka walked across the room. "Kemari," she said, and Achoo came bounding across to her, followed by Little. "Dukduk, turun," said Beka. Achoo sat and lay down while Little watched and then copied.

Next, Beka picked up one of Little's dolls and held it out for Achoo to sniff. Little sniffed it too, refusing to be left out of anything. "Tinggal, stay," she told them both. "I'm going to hide this." She disappeared into the room next door and came back a few moments later. "Mencari," she said, and Achoo took off into the room where she'd been. Little followed at a trot, staying right behind Achoo.

"We found it!" Little and Achoo came running back together, the doll in Achoo's mouth. "Be careful with her, Achoo. She's mine."

Beka grinned and took the doll back as she gave them each their treats.

"Do it again!" insisted Little. They ended up finding the doll another ten times before Little climbed onto Beka's lap, exhausted. "It's the best game ever," she said, and promptly fell asleep.


	24. Hut

Prompt: Gifts

"Uncle Matty!" Little tried to throw herself out of the bath, and managed to splash soapy water all over her mother.

"Hold still," Clary snapped as she made her sit down again. Her attention shifted momentarily to wipe the water off her face, and next thing she knew, Little was out of the bath and running over to Mattes.

He laughed as she hugged him around his legs. "I hope you're just happy to see me," he told her, "because you're quite a bit younger than the other bare mots I've had throwing themselves at me."

Clary gave him a cuff around the head as her hand clamped down around Little's wrist. "You could've slipped and hurt yourself," she scolded. "You wait until you're properly clean before you go getting out of the bath." She picked her up and dumped her back in.

"I don't recall you making those Rats wait until you'd finished bathing that time in those baths in Upmarket," Mattes said slyly. "Made it nice and easy for us, it did, once you gave them a lovely sight to gawk at."

Clary turned around to glare at him. "Out," she ordered. "Now."

He just grinned at her. "Hey Little, you want me to start making us another hut?"

"Ooh, yes!" said Little, and clapped her hands. "Little _loves _making huts!"

"Anyone'd think you weren't happy with the roof we put over your head," grumbled Clary.

Little gave an exasperated sigh and splashed halfheartedly at the bathwater. "Hurry _up_, Mama."

……………………………………

Little and Mattes were settled happily despite the lack of space in their hut. Little was busy drawing pictures to give to everybody as their Midwinter gifts, and Mattes was in charge of making sure that nobody came along and saw any drawings that they shouldn't, as well as providing frequent admiration of her artwork.

"All done," announced Little happily after at least two hours. "Except for one."

"There's still one more?" Mattes groaned inwardly; his elbows were sore and all of him was stiff.

"I haven't done yours yet, you big looby," she told him.

"You sound just like your mama."

Little sat up and crossed her arms as best as she could. "Out."

"Hey," he protested. "I did most of the building of this hut."

"Only because I'm not big enough to move the chairs and rugs and things," she retorted. She pointed to the flap of the rug that served as their door. "Out," she repeated. "You can wait out there, and _no peeking_."

"This had better be my favourite Midwinter gift ever," he complained. "None of the others have involved this much work."

"Of course it will be," Little replied. "Or else you'd better get _very _sarden good at pretending."


	25. Midwinter

Prompt: Midwinter

Clary awoke as the bedroom door opened with a crash.

"It's Midwinter!" announced Little, and she jumped onto their bed, bouncing up and down.

Clary groaned and tried to burrow herself closer into Tom. She could feel him chuckle as he looked at their daughter. "Is our gixie a bit excited?"

"I'm VERY excited!"

"Did you see all the presents at the foot of your bed?"

"Yes!" She clapped her hands. "When can I open them? When can I give you your gifts?"

"Now, if you want."

Little jumped off the bed and ran back to her bedroom. Clary groaned again and Tom laughed. "I bet you were just as excited about Midwinter when you were her age." She snorted and he grinned, knowing he was right.

Little came back waving two pieces of paper. "I drew a picture for Mama and a picture for Da." She climbed back onto the bed and wriggled on top of her parents. "Look!"

Tom extracted himself from Clary and Little enough to take the drawing and look at it. "That's very nice," he told her. "Who helped you with the words?"

"Uncle Matty, but I did all the actual writing."

"You're a clever lass." He ruffled her hair and she giggled. "What are all these things?" He pointed to one of the brown scribbly lines that was dotted around the picture.

Little looked at him like he was a looby. "Wood."

He grinned. "Oh, I see. Because I'm a carpenter." Little nodded. "I'll put it up in my shop for everyone to admire then." Little beamed.

Clary snorted in amusement. "I see you remembered to draw Da's tummy too."

Little nodded. "Look at yours, Mama!" She held it out and Clary took it.

"I have my baton," she said, sounding pleased. "What's that thing sticking out of me?"

"A tail."

"…Why?"

"Because you're a Dog," said Tom with a chuckle. "You have dog ears too," he pointed out. Little beamed.

"That's very clever," Clary told her. "Thank you."

"She can put it in the kennel for everyone to admire," suggested Tom. Little clapped her hands in delight and Clary pinched Tom under the covers.

Little stood up and started bouncing again, apparently satisfied that she was done with the gift-giving. "Time for my gifts!" she announced, and jumped off the bed.

Clary groaned and threw the covers back as the very first rays of sunlight lit the sky.


End file.
